Ricciardo: No dip in motivation despite Renault struggles

Daniel Ricciardo says his motivation to push Renault up the Formula 1 pecking order is unwavering despite a tricky start at the French manufacturer.

The Australian secured just his second points finish from the opening six rounds of the 2019 F1 campaign following his switch from Red Bull to Renault over the winter.

Having explained his move to Renault is part of a long-term target to fight for world titles, Ricciardo accepts his initial progress has been slower than anticipated following a number of reliability woes for the French manufacturer on its power unit with a run MGU-K failures.

Despite his frustrations Ricciardo says his motivation hasn’t dropped and is confident Renault can recover lost ground over the course of this season having slipped to eighth place in the F1 world constructors’ championship.

“Motivation certainly hasn’t dipped, by any means. It’s going to take a bit more time but I’m certainly trying as well and doing everything I can,” Ricciardo said. “I feel that also, everything that I’ve put in has really been taken on board and the team is certainly willing to grow and learn. I’m not saying it’s all me but at least my input has been quite positive, I think.

“I’m enjoying it, I really am. Obviously I would love to get better results but as an environment I am enjoying it.

“Obviously we would have hoped for better results than what we’ve currently got and we all want that and we’re all honest enough to admit that. It would have been nice to get a few more seventh places as opposed to struggling for top 10 results.

“We didn’t expect to be in podium contention or anything, certainly not at this stage, but I still see what I saw when I signed as far as the input that everyone’s having and the infrastructure is still going up.”